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List of WWE pay-per-view events
was one of the first and most successful pay-per-view events in the world. (75,167 fans attended the Mercedes-Benz Superdome for WrestleMania XXX –pictured above – and it was the highest-grossing professional wrestling pay-per-view event in history)]] This is a list of WWE pay-per-view events, detailing all professional wrestling cards promoted on pay-per-view (PPV) by WWE. WWE has broadcast pay-per-views since the 1980s, when its classic "Big Four" events (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series) were first established. The company's PPV lineup expanded to a monthly basis in the mid-1990s and reached its peak of sixteen shows a year in 2006 before returning to twelve in 2012. Following the second brand extension in July 2016, the number of shows per year were expanded once again to 16. Pay-per-view shows are typically three hours in length, though budget priced events (e.g., In Your House) were shorter, while premium events such as WrestleMania can approach five hours. Since 2008, all WWE pay-per-views have been broadcast in high definition. Pay-per-view events are a significant part of the revenue stream for WWE. WWE pay-per-views are made available in the United States by In Demand. In Canada, WWE pay-per-views are available through (depending on service provider) Vu!, Shaw PPV, or SaskTel PPV, and can be seen in movie theatres in HD through selected locations of the Cineplex Entertainment chain. In Australia, WWE's pay-per-views are shown on Main Event. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, some pay-per-views are shown on Sky Sports 1 & 3 and others on Sky Sports Box Office. In India and South Asia, a single broadcaster (currently Sony TEN) generally holds the rights to all WWE programming, including pay-per-views, and they are broadcast for no additional charge. Aside from its standard monthly schedule, WWE produced additional international pay-per-views between 1997 and 2003. These events were not available in the United States and coincided with overseas tours in the United Kingdom. Following WWE's original brand extension in 2002, the company promoted two touring rosters representing its Raw and SmackDown television programs. Aside from Insurrextion (Raw) and Rebellion (SmackDown!), all WWE pay-per-views featured both brands until June 2003. The traditional "Big Four" continued to showcase the entire roster, while the remaining pay-per-views alternated between Raw and SmackDown cards. A special ECW event in 2005 led to the creation of an ECW brand in 2006, which also received its own dedicated pay-per-view. Additional brand-exclusive events were added to the schedule, which reached its peak in 2006 with sixteen pay-per-view events (five Raw, five SmackDown, two ECW, and the original "Big Four"). In March 2007, WWE announced that all subsequent pay-per-views would feature performers from all brands. Dates were slowly removed from the pay-per-view schedule and in 2012, WWE returned to holding twelve pay-per-views a year. However, since the second brand extension in July 2016, brand-exclusive pay-per-views returned with only the "Big Four" as the only pay-per-views to feature both Raw and SmackDown brands, and some months have two pay-per-views, one for each show. Just like the previous brand extension, brand exclusive pay-per-views ended after WrestleMania 34. In 2009, WWE began to rename several of its "B"-show pay-per-views, identifying them with types of matches such as the Money in the Bank ladder match and the Hell in a Cell cage match. Since 2012, WWE has offered a free kickoff/pre-show before each pay-per-view, available on WWE.com and from social media partners such as YouTube and Facebook. The WWE Network, launched on February 24, 2014, features an extensive back catalog of WWE pay-per-view events, as well as all future pay-per-views streamed live from WrestleMania XXX onwards. The WWE Network also included non-PPV events, The Big Event and 1988 Royal Rumble, in their pay-per-view section. In recent years, WWE pay-per-views are mainly held in top-drawing arenas, such as the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri, the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois, the Staples Center in Los Angeles, the TD Garden in Boston, the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, and the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Past pay-per-view events 1980s 1985 1986 *WrestleMania 2 was billed as one show, but emanated from three locations. Each match is listed as the main event for that venue's card. Hulk Hogan vs. King Kong Bundy was billed as the official main event. 1987 1988 1989 1990s 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000s 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010s 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Upcoming pay-per-view schedule 2019 Number of events by year * 1985 – 2 * 1986 – 1 * 1987 – 2 * 1988 – 3 * 1989 – 5 * 1990 – 4 * 1991 – 5 * 1992 – 4 * 1993 – 5 * 1994 – 5 * 1995 – 10 * 1996 – 12 * 1997 – 13 * 1998 – 13 * 1999 – 14 * 2000 – 14 * 2001 – 14 * 2002 – 14 * 2003 – 13 * 2004 – 14 * 2005 – 15 * 2006 – 16 * 2007 – 15 * 2008 – 14 * 2009 – 14 * 2010 – 13 * 2011 – 13 * 2012 – 12 * 2013 – 12 * 2014 – 12 * 2015 – 13 * 2016 – 15 * 2017 – 16 * 2018 – 15 * 2019 – 1 (5 confirmed) * Total – 363 (5 more confirmed) Most pay-per-view matches These ten wrestlers have the most PPV matches (as of Royal Rumble 2019). * Only the actual pay-per-view matches are counted. No pre-show or dark matches. Themed pay-per-views Many WWE pay-per-views are thematic, centered on particular types of matches, or have an annually-recurring main-event. Most themed pay-per-view-events (sans the "Big Four") are roughly treated like filler themed events to carry the audience until the next event dating back to the days when the In Your House system was used.Matt O'Brien: POLL: DOES WWE DO TOO MANY GIMMICK PPV EVENTS? – WrestleView.com, May 17, 2012. Retrieved August 28, 2013. See also * List of ECW pay-per-view events * List of ROH pay-per-view events * List of Impact Wrestling pay-per-view events * List of NWA/WCW closed-circuit events and pay-per-view events * List of NJPW pay-per-view events * List of WWE Network events References External links * * * pay-per-view